1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to system, method, and apparatus for embedding and processing barcodes.
2. Discussion of the Background
Over the past several years, there has been an increase in the number and types of document-related applications available over networks. These applications may include document management systems, such as those specializing in managing documents of various specific contents, for example medical, legal, financial, marketing, scientific, educational, etc. Other applications include various delivery systems, such as e-mail servers, facsimile servers, and/or regular mail delivery. Yet other applications include document processing systems, such as format conversion and optical character recognition systems. Further applications include document management systems used to store, organize, and manage various documents. Such applications will be referred to hereinafter as “projects” and are generally located at a server.
Various systems for accessing these network applications from image processing devices (e.g., scanners, printers, copy machines, cameras) have been contemplated. One system associates a computer with each image processing device for managing the documents with the network applications. The computers communicate with the various network applications to enable the use of the applications by the user of the image processing devices. For example, the computers request and receive from the network applications information about the format and content of the data required by the applications to manage the documents. The computers process this information and configure the image processing devices to provide the correct format and content.
These systems also may authenticate a user at an image processing device using single-factor network user authentication. Single-factor user authentication typically involves entering only a username and password which are stored at the image processing device or transmitted to a network server. The image processing device or the server then compares the submitted information to stored username and passwords corresponding to users that are authorized to access the system. Since all of the information needed to gain access to the network is actually stored at the image processing device or on the network, single-factor authentication does not provide strong security against an unauthorized user. An authorized user's username or user ID is typically known, and therefore only the password needs to be compromised in order for an unauthorized user to gain access to the network. Also, storing password data on corporate networks introduces additional vulnerability to attackers who gain network access or may also facilitate insider fraud.
Further, when scanning a document, there is a desire to associate that particular document with a specific workflow, which would include the processing of the particular document itself. The processing may include image processing, the saving of the information contained within the particular document, the delivery destination of the document, or the security level of the scanned document, just to name a few. The above is conventionally accomplished via communications made from a multi-function device (“MFD”) and a server that processes the scanned document. Having information go back and forth from an MFD and a server can take up processing time and risk security, as mentioned above.
Therefore, there is a desire to eliminate the need of a server system or external system that is used in a conventional implementation. Including all of the processing power and capability in an MFD would eliminate the need of an external server, and the communication therebetween. The elimination of the network communication between the MFD and the server would save up on the time needed to process the document, save on user intervention, and would achieve higher levels of security.
Presently, the use of barcodes is common in dedicated/production environments, but not as much in a common office setting. One of the reasons is for security concerns. For example, if an unauthorized person obtains a barcode document including the user's credentials, with a destination folder pointing to the user's folder, this causes a concern from a security standpoint. The present disclosure includes a barcode-type system that is both easy to use and secure in a standard office environment as well as a production environment
The present disclosure relates to the field of embedding data into a barcode for processing purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,947, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discusses the different type of barcode scanning available, namely one dimensional and two dimensional scanning. A one dimensional barcode scanning involves scanning wide and narrow bar patterns, looking up “code” in a database, or the like, and then using the results in an application. Two dimensional barcode scanning involves scanning square or rectangular patterns that encode data in two dimensions. FIG. 2 shows an example of a typical two dimensional barcode. Each barcode feature requires a data type to define its extent and also a set of feature descriptors called attributes. Attributes might be of nearly any data type such as text, numeric, or binary. The attributes provide the basis for interpreting the features.
Barcode processing is a resource intensive operation in terms of memory, CPU, and the like. First, the processor needs to load the image containing the barcode. Next, the image is examined section by section to identify the barcode, and then the barcode format is compared to a barcode dictionary to validate that it is a valid barcode image. Then, the barcode information is extracted based on predetermined characters, decrypted by 128-bit algorithms (a resource intensive operation within itself), and finally the actual constructed data is processed.